Interviews with city and county officials, business leaders and faith-based leaders coupled with a survey of county residents has provided a list of potential issues — good and bad — that will contribute to the development of a strategic plan, representatives for Vision First told Vicksburg-Warren Chamber of Commerce members.

Vision First, the consultant hired by the chamber to assist with developing a strategic economic development plan for Warren County, met Thursday with members of the chamber’s economic development steering committee to give members an update into the company’s efforts toward developing a recommendation.

No date has been set when the final plan will be presented.

“This is not our opinion; this is what you told us,” said Gray Swoope, Vision First president and chief executive officer.

He said after the meeting, the information he discussed with the committee was developed through interviews with more then 50 leaders and the responses of 237 people who took the chamber’s survey.

“It’s a good process,” he said.

The discussion touched several issues, including the Port of Vicksburg, the Ceres Industrial Park and topics developed from the responses to the survey and the interviews with local leaders.

Swoope said the survey results indicated the people wanted the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center and the Corps of Engineers more engaged in the community, and better use of the Mississippi River’s assets.

“That’s about 50 percent of the respondents,” Swoope said of the river. “The other 50 percent wanted a vibrant downtown and vibrant neighborhoods.”

He said the interviews indicated a new optimism among officials and business leaders.

“You being here, people are excited. They’re excited you got together,” he said. “You’ve got new leadership, and you’ve got people who are engaged. It’s a start; there’s an excitement about it. There’s a sense of engagement, so I take that as a huge takeaway for this community, because, based on my experience, that hasn’t been the case.”

He said the county has a lot of assets, pointing to its history, the art in the city, the river and visitors coming from the riverboats. The county has river, rail and highway access.

“There are some places that would just love to have one of those,” he said. “You have all three running through your community, and I think that’s good for you.”

Swoope highlighted the old U.S. 80 bridge as an attraction. “I don’t think you can walk across the Mississippi River any place else,” he said. “You’ve got places where you can engage in the river more than any place else.”

There were some problems. The Port of Vicksburg is at capacity and its facilities need updating. Access to Ceres Industrial Park is a problem for trucks entering and leaving the park. There were complaints about a lack of skilled labor, something Swoope said was not limited to Warren County. “That is something that is happening across this country,” he said.

And there was a lot of negative talk about the area.

“It seems that people in Vicksburg and Warren County want to tell the most negative things about themselves,” he said. “People like talking about the negative. We’ve probably heard more of that here than some communities that we go to. I don’t know why, but there’s negative talk about the schools, negative talk about crime; the perceptions of it.

“It’s the frustration of the governments not working together, the perception. The negative perception about talent. The takeaway we get is that everybody has to work together.”

Swoope said another issue is a problem with young professionals who want to be involved in the community, but don’t understand the way to get involved.

“It’s a good takeaway that you have people who want to get engaged and you have people who want to engage the young professionals. You’ve got to figure out what’s the pathway to get them involved.”

Swoope said one the changes in developing a strategic plan is eliminating the negative comments while promoting the area’s assets.

Another is better use of ERDC to develop entrepreneurship and new businesses. He said the community will have to develop a proactive strategy to bring in the type of jobs that match with ERDC.

“It’s hard; it takes a plan and approach,” he said.

“We have to tell our story; it’s about what the image is, what’s that brand of our community. What sets our community a part.”